


Too Much

by Brumeier



Series: Bite Sized Fic [95]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Captivity, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, M/M, Prompt Fill, Starvation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 04:46:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7494363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>LJ Comment Fic for Showtune Titles prompt: <i>Food, Glorious Food</i></p>
<p>In which Rodney, coming back from a long-term captivity where he was starved, finds the food in the Mess overwhelming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Much

Rodney hesitated at the entrance to the Mess. The serving trays were full of food, he could smell every individual dish. Rigatoni with not-sausage. Some of that ugly mainland fish, broiled and seasoned with the stuff that tasted like lemon but wasn’t. Chocolate cake. His stomach grumbled, and Rodney wrapped his arms around his midsection. He’d lost his paunch.

He couldn’t make himself step forward. He thought he was ready, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t. But he was so hungry. And the food was so close.

“Hey, buddy.” John appeared behind him, and put a hand on his shoulder. “Everything okay?”

Rodney shook his head. 

“Do you need to see Carson?”

Another shake. Carson couldn’t help him, not unless he hooked Rodney up to another IV that pumped the necessary nutrients directly into his system; he’d never agree to it. Heightmeyer would’ve been the more appropriate choice, under the circumstances.

“I dreamed of this, you know,” he said in a shaky voice. “Just coming here, going through the line. But every time I sat down to eat, it all vanished. All I had was an empty tray.”

It sounded stupid when he said it out loud. Truth was, he couldn’t be sure this wasn’t the same dream. Any minute he could wake up in that same dim cell, the pain in his stomach a constant, gnawing thing that clouded his mind, distracted him from finding a way out, kept him curled up and miserable and longing for home.

Rodney didn’t realize he was in the middle of panic attack until John gently tugged him away from the Mess and back down the hall to the transporter.

“Deep breaths, Rodney, okay? Nice and easy.”

“Where are we going?” Rodney gasped.

“Your room. Stop talking and breathe.”

Deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out. Rodney let John tug him along, into the transporter, out of the transporter, down another hall to Rodney’s quarters. Deep breaths, and he was starting to feel a little better.

John sat him down on the bed, and then rifled through the clutter on his desk, producing a Power Bar.

“Eat this. Slow.”

Rodney accepted it gratefully. He ate it slow, like John told him, savoring every chewy bite. It was his first solid food since getting out of the infirmary. It was glorious.

“You’ve been seeing Heightmeyer, right?” John asked. He rubbed Rodney’s back with one hand.

Rodney nodded. She’d been by to see him every day while he was under Carson’s care, and had an appointment with her the following day.

“Make sure you tell her about this, okay? She can help.”

“You helped,” Rodney said. He finished the Power Bar and tossed the wrapper in the general direction of the trash receptacle.

He was suddenly really tired, and leaned against John, who pressed a kiss to his temple.

“I owe you,” John said softly. 

Three words imbued with an over-abundance of guilt. Rodney would have to deal with that soon, but he didn’t have the energy for it right then. Instead he tucked his head against John’s neck, breathing in the scent of him. 

“Why don’t you lie down,” John suggested. “Get comfortable. I can go find more Power Bars.”

Rodney yawned and nodded, scooching up to the head of the bed. He wanted to ask John to stay, wanted to ask him to be there when Rodney woke up to prove this wasn’t all just a dream, but he didn’t want to add to John’s guilt; he was bearing too much as it was.

Rodney dozed off, and when he woke again - heart pounding fearfully in his chest - the room was dark except for what moonlight shone through the windows. John was curled up around him, snoring softy against the back of Rodney’s neck, and there was a box of Power Bars on the night stand.

Tears burned Rodney’s eyes, but he refused to let them fall. He was home, and nothing else mattered. He wouldn’t let it matter.

He ate another Power Bar, as stealthily as he could, and drank from the bottle of water that had been left there too. Rodney pressed back against John, who muttered in his sleep and tightened his hold on Rodney.

When he fell back asleep, Rodney had the beginnings of a smile on his face.

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** This also fills my H/C Bingo square for Captivity.


End file.
